Deadly Alliance Report

How Big Tobacco and Convenience Stores Partner to Market Tobacco Products and Fight Life-Saving Policies

The tobacco industry spends the majority of its marketing budget at the point of sale. As other forms of tobacco marketing were limited by public health policy successes, the industry turned to the retail environment as the primary channel to attract new smokers, keep current smokers hooked and make it harder to quit. These marketing dollars go towards saturating convenience stores and other retail outlets with tobacco products, advertisements and promotions ensuring tobacco products will continue to be prominently displayed, heavily advertised, and cheaply priced.  This report by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association and Counter Tobacco details how the tobacco industry uses the retail environment to market their deadly products and fight policies that limit tobacco use.

The 2016 update to this report included new data from the Federal Trade Commission Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Sales and Marketing Expenditures Reports, up-to-date scientific evidence on the impact of point-of-sale marketing, and recent examples on industry interference in the field.

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